Scouts find plenty of food in annual drive

PORTSMOUTH — Food was flying at the N.H. National Guard Armory building on McGee Drive on Saturday.

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By Suzanne Laurent

seacoastonline.com

By Suzanne Laurent

Posted Nov. 11, 2012 at 2:00 AM
Updated Nov 11, 2012 at 12:02 PM

By Suzanne Laurent

Posted Nov. 11, 2012 at 2:00 AM
Updated Nov 11, 2012 at 12:02 PM

» Social News

PORTSMOUTH — Food was flying at the N.H. National Guard Armory building on McGee Drive on Saturday.

It wasn't a food fight, though. More than 50 Scouts, parents and food pantry volunteers were tossing plastic sacks filled with nonperishable foods from station wagons, cars and trailers during the annual Scouting for Food drive. The food items were then separated and boxed for pick-up by a dozen local agencies later in the day.

"We're expecting at least 20,000 items," said Rich Marden, coordinator of the drive for the last 10 years.

Marden said the volunteers would make up 475 to 500 boxes of food and the number given to each agency would depend on the numbers of people they help each month. An estimated 3,732 people were served collectively by the 12 agencies last month.

Twenty Scout troops and Boy Scout packs set out Nov. 3, to deliver Scouting for Food door hangers throughout their neighborhoods asking residents to leave the food items outside their doors or at their mailboxes Saturday morning for pick-up.

Scout leaders and parents helped deliver the goods to the armory on McGee Drive to be sorted and distributed. Many Scouts, like Joe Sanner and Tom Sylla of Portsmouth Troop 164, dressed in uniform to help unload the drop-offs.

Agencies benefitting from the food drive are all on the New Hampshire Seacoast. They include AIDS Response Seacoast, Liberty Baptist, Seacoast Family, the Salvation Army, Church of Christ, Epping Community, Greenland Community, Nottingham Community, Operation Blessing, Seacoast Adopt-A-Block, St. Vincent De Paul and Seacoast Community Services.

Scout leaders were encouraged to fill out a troop scorecard on the Boy Scouts of America Web site for recognition of the day's activities.

Scouting's Journey to Excellence is the BSA's new council performance recognition program designed to encourage and reward success and measure the performance of units, districts, and councils. It replaces the Centennial Quality Awards Program as a means of encouraging excellence in providing a quality program at all levels of the BSA.

Jenny Hutchins of Deerfield, a member of the Historic District of the Daniel Webster Council, was keeping tallies of the day's activities. Seated on her lap and sporting a yellow Scout neckerchief was Pi, a 5-year-old shiba inu.